New suppliers’ stock deal boosts BHS rescue hopes

Hopes for the survival of BHS have been given a boost after it emerged that administrators to the stricken retailer have struck a fresh deal with suppliers for new stock.

It is understood that the new order will tide BHS over for up to a week while Duff & Phelps continues to assess bids for the department store chain, which collapsed in April endangering 11,000 jobs.

Insiders said a fresh stock deal, which has been funded by trading at BHS’s stores, indicates that “suppliers are keen to keep BHS going” and raises the prospect of a deal being done soon.

A number of different parties are understood to be interested in buying the entire business, among them Gregg Tufnell, a former Mothercare boss and the brother of ex-England cricketer Phil Tufnell.

An announcement the administrators from Duff & Phelps on BHS’s future is expected to be made next week.

Simultaneously, MPs from the Pensions and Business Committees at Westminster are investigating the events surrounding the collapse of BHS and have been questioning advisers to its former owners, Sir Philip Green and Dominic Chappell.

Both Sir Philip and Mr Chappell, who are set to be grilled by MPs in June, have come under fire.

Sir Philip has drawn significant amounts of flack for paying a £400 million dividend to his family from the business and over his management of the pension scheme.

Mr Chappell, one of whose backers described the BHS deal as “a punt” is further accused of sucking out management fees from BHS before its collapse - a claim he has firmly rejected.